Drilling activity in hard and tight Shale formations has increased substantially in the last few years. The wells that are drilled in these formations are generally very deep and complex. They can be comprised of depths that may exceed 10,000 feet vertically and 10,000 feet in the lateral section of the well.
During the drilling operation of these wells, which may include, but are not limited to, tripping in and tripping out of the well, sliding, rotation, etc., the drill pipe is subjected to high compressive loads that could cause severe buckling of the drill pipe. The buckling could manifest itself as Helical Buckling in the vertical section and/or Sinusoidal Buckling in the lateral section. Sinusoidal buckling occurs when the axial force on a long column, in this case drill pipe, exceeds the critical buckling force and the pipe elastically deforms or bends and takes on a snake-like shape in the hole. Additional compressive loads cause Sinusoidal buckling to transition to Helical Buckling, and take on a corkscrew-like shape in the hole. As such, Helical Buckling is more severe and occurs after Sinusoidal budding. In addition to buckling, the drill pipe may exhibit severe abrasion on one side of the tool joint following the failure of the hardbanding, which will lead to wall thickness loss at the tool joint and/or washouts at the middle section of the tubes.
Ultimately, due to the severe drilling environment in downhole wells, the useful life of the drill pipe is severely shortened. To combat this problem, a wear and buckle resistant drill pipe was developed and disclosed in co-pending non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/278,403, entitled “WEAR AND BUCKLE RESISTANT DRILL PIPE,” which is the parent of the present application and also owned by the Assignee of the present invention, Weatherford/Lamb, Inc., of Houston, Tex.
However, after down hole operations, even a buckle resistant drill pipe can be downgraded to scrap as a result of wear. In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a method by which the drill pipe can be repaired and/or enhanced, thereby further extending the useful life of the drill pipe and providing a drill pipe having increased wear and buckle resistance.